Bridging the Gap

Barbados has the second highest literacy rate in the world. The United States is ranked 17th.

Barbados spends 6.9 percent of its gross national budget on education, according to the CIA World Factbook, making it 24th in the world. The United States ranks 57th in spending.

According to the United Nations’ Human Development Index, an indicator of a nation’s quality of life as well as its wealth, Barbados is first among developing nations. The United States ranks 12th on the index.

*Source: Institute for Advanced Journalism Studies

HOW THE FALL SCHOOL SCENE IS SHAPING UP

The nation’s schools and colleges will welcome back record numbers of students this fall as population increases and high enrollment rates boost enrollments.

Some fast facts:

In fall 2008, a record 49.8 million students will attend public
elementary and secondary schools. Of these, 34.9 million will be in pre-kindergarten through 8th- grade and 14.9 million in grades nine through 12. An additional 6.2 million students are expected to attend private schools this fall.

Public school systems will employ about 3.3 million teachers this fall, resulting in a pupil/teacher ratio of 15.3, which is lower than in 2000, when the ratio was 16.0. An additional 0.5 million teachers will be working in private schools this fall, where the pupil/teacher ratio is estimated at 13.0.

Current expenditures for public elementary and secondary
schools will be about $519 billion for the 2008-09 school year.
The national average current expenditure per student is around $10,418, up from $9,154 in 2005-06.

Source: National Center for Education Statistics

BRIDGING THE GAP

The black-white achievement gap in public schools is a decades long problem in the United States that shows no signs of abating.

Nationally, black students are three times more likely than white students to be placed in special education programs and half as likely to be in gifted ones.

Just 14 percent of black 4th-graders are proficient in national reading assessments compared with 43 percent of white students. And by 8th grade, there’s a 30-point gap in math scores between black and white students.

Professional reporters and students from The Institute for Advanced Journalism Studies at North Carolina A&T University interviewed dozens of education proponents, experts and school officials across the United States to try to define the achievement gap and to ferret out solutions to the problem.

Journalists from the Institute for Advanced Journalism Studies also went to Barbados to learn why the tiny island nation graduates 98 percent of it students, and to Cuba to discover why the Caribbean country boasts an almost 100 percent literacy rate. The following series of articles by Institute journalists reflect possible solutions for bridging the black-white educational achievement gap in America.

For more information, also see www.ifajs.org.

Excellence in Barbados Starts with Discipline

By Nikole Hannah-Jones

Special to the AFRO

Uniforms are a form of discipline at Lester Vaughan secondary school in Barbados. Educators say the modest outfits ease distractions and also erase class differences. (Courtesy Photo/Nikole Hannah-Jones)

ST. THOMAS PARISH, BARBADOS - Danielle Ifill puts her hand on her hip and poses for her friends as she dons the evergreen mortarboard that signals her upcoming graduation. In the auditorium of her worn-looking high school, Lester Vaughan secondary school, teacher Wilma Wiggins makes sure Ifill’s matching gown hangs the proper distance from the floor. While Wiggins measures, the 16-year-old with mahogany skin and ebony eyes casts a wistful glance at the school yard she’ll soon leave. A few months from now, she’ll start a computer engineering program at the local polytechnic university. With a smile, she says she’s prepared, but nervous. “I’m going to miss it,” she says. “But I am ready.”

In Cuba, Parents Back Up Teachers

HAVANA – Minutes before the last bell rings at Pedro Domingo Murillo Primary School, Ariadna Barrera doesn’t wait for her 7-year-old son, Jordan, to come outside. She goes inside to see how he’s coming along in his learning.

The Achievement Gap: Confronting the Problem that Continues to Confound

Paint Branch High School in Montgomery County, Md., leads the nation when it comes to the number of blacks taking and passing advanced placement tests.

Plethora Of Tests Seem To Make Gap Worse

ORLANDO, Fla. - Every Saturday during the school year, about 30 college students, engineers, lawyers and other professionals gather at 8:30 a.m. in a downtown church building here.

Queen’s College: A Top School, and a Tough Leader

HUSBANDS, ST. JAMES, BARBADOS - As far as schools go, Queen’s College looks much older than its age. The newest incarnation of this school – which existed for more than a century before on Constitution Road in St. Michael’s – was built in 1990 as a World Bank project. Queen Elizabeth II, in fact, laid the foundation stone.

Cuban Schools Put Premium on Health of Students

HAVANA - Three years ago, doctors, dentists and health specialists converged on Principal Alina Verdi’s school. For two weeks, they went class by class examining every student at the Pedro Domingo Murillo primary school.